More music while I work
Come on Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners. I must ask her about that.
Boston soul
In conversation with the lovely and very talented Barbara Nadel this morning, this came up:
If you like the Troggs, and were around at the time of Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, you may enjoy
Undertones
Just checked out the cricket on line. It’s always a mistake to hit a fast bowler on the head, even if he is wearing a helmet. Now Jimmy Anderson will be annoyed.
Far away
Ever heard of Shakhtar Karagandy? Me neither; for all I knew it might have been a Auld Scots phrase for energetic sex, until Celtic were drawn against them in the Champions’ League play-off round.
Karagandy, it seems, is a province in Kazakhstan, and the team plays in the capital, Karaganda, a city not that much smaller than Glasgow, but in a stadium one third the size of Celtic Park. Shakhtar Karagandy managed to lose to Dublin St Patrick’s in last year’s Euro qualifiers, which in theory indicates that Celtic should be favourites, but they’ve beaten a good side to get this far so should not be under-estimated.
Let’s hope the locals are welcoming to any fans prepared to cross five time zones to get there (and there are bound to be some). However the presence of one Paddy Flynn in the Shakhtar Karagandy squad indicates that there should be at least one person who can show them around.
Slippy Banister
How refreshing. This woman is a special kind of idiot. Too bad she’s an Aussie; she’d be great in UKIP, if she stays out of jail.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/08/stephanie-banister_n_3724519.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics
More music while I work
Today it’s Slipstream, by Bonnie Raitt. Forty-two years on and she’s still cutting it. Sexuagenarians rule, okay!
Off line
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/23595341
You didn’t hit it too straight at Muirfield, Lee.
More music while I work
Moved on now, to something more conducive to creative thinking that the mind-scrambling SAHB. Rhythm Sessions, by Lee Ritenour; fine guitarist who lets you know he’s there without being too intrusive.
Music while I work
School’s Out. No, not the original, but the great alternative version by the great Sensational Alex Harvey Band; ‘And remember, boys and girls, don’t pish in the water supply’.
On the beach
NIce day yesterday; 1200 words on the new book, a snooze in the sun, then picked up La Mia from summer school and went to the beach. Today’s plan is much the same, but we’ll go to a different beach. Montgo is just too crowded at this time of year.
Doc
I’ve been saying for years that Peter Capaldi would be one of my top choices to play Bob Skinner on screen. Now he’s been announced as the next Doctor Who, I’m thinking; too bad I don’t write sci-fi.
Really?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22885969
This makes me glad I gave up eating red meat some time ago.
Music while I work
Cool choice this morning, dug out from the back of the library. A Case of You, by Herbie Hancock. Download it if you dare.
Alcatraz
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23558360
Prisons run by inmates? In principle, that seems like a good idea. I always thought that Escape from New York was a blueprint for the future, rather than just a movie.
Question
Today’s press is reporting that Real Madrid’s president has bid £85m for Gareth Bale and that the Spurs chairman is insisting that he is not for sale. If those stories are true, who’s the crazier of the two?
Coward
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23512954
The conviction of Bradley Manning for passing thousands of classified US government files to the anarchist organisation Wikileaks has given its founder yet another media opportunity and he has taken full advantage of it. However I wonder if he realises how it makes him appear.
The misguided private is facing life imprisonment, no parole, but at least he has had the courage to face the consequences of his actions. While he is being sentenced, Julian Assange, the man whose abuse of Bradley’s stolen documents put him in the dock, will still be skulking inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, hiding from a Swedish arrest warrant that has nothing to do with sedition or anything similar, but was prompted instead by allegations of rape. Ironic isn’t it, Assange professes contempt for international law and yet he is hiding behind it.
The man is a coward and a creep. If he had a scrap of respect for the poor fool Manning, and a scrap of courage, he would go to Sweden, defend himself against the allegations, which he denies, and let events unfold. Will he? Don’t be daft.
Teetering
I had lunch with some Heart of Midlothian supporting friends the other day. They were confident that the club would soon emerge from administration by way of a Creditors Voluntary Agreement.
It seems now that their optimism was misplaced. Neither of the two bids submitted to the administrator came close to meeting the needs of the club’s Lithuanian ownership, which is itself insolvent. As a result liquidation of HMFC and the sale of its assets, namely the ground, is a real possibility. My Hibs fan friends may be chortling into their Fosters at the prospect, but they should realise that Scottish football is in the direst of straits at this moment, and the loss of its, arguably, third biggest club could drag many others under.
Eton mess
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23505723
This geezer was a member of the coalition government, aged 76, until last September when he was reshuffled off by Cameron. Well before that he was a member of two Thatcher Cabinets. In those days he was known as David Howell, and was rarely seen to smile.
I find it amazing that a man with such a track record can be so ignorant of the nation that once he helped to govern. Amazing, note, but not surprising; if you hadn’t guessed, he’s an old Etonian.
Slippery Vince
I saw Vince Cable on Andrew Marr an hour ago, apparently toeing the coalition line, while doing his oily best to destabilise the high speed train project.
There are people within the Lib Dems who want to ditch Clegg and replace him with the wizened seer. The rival parties must be rubbing their hands at the prospect.
